Russia declares strong protest to Poland following desecration of the monument in Szczecin

Moscow demands punishment of guilty

MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Moscow declared to Poland a strong protest following desecration of the Gratitude Monument to Red Army in Szczecin, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.

"In Poland occurred another cynical act of vandalism against a Soviet memorial. In Szczecin, unidentified persons desecrated the Monument of Gratitude to the Red Army in a central square," the ministry said. "Significantly, this is the second case of the kind over recent several months - in September, 2015 stars were stolen from five burials at the place, where over 3,000 Soviet military are buried."

"The Polish side, by failing to protect monuments related to our history, demonstrates complete negligence of the inter-state agreements, to which it is a party," the ministry said. "Poland violates gravely provisions of the basic Agreement between the two countries on friendly neighbourly cooperation of May 22, 1992, under which the parties have clear responsibilities to protect monuments, which are objects of respect and memory of the citizens of either party."

"The frequency of the acts of vandalism, their cynicism and the fact that they happen at the connivance and even direct instigation of the Polish authorities give reasons to say we are dealing here with the state policy, which is based on historical revisionism. We declare to the polish side a strong protest."

"We demand those guilty are found and punished, the monument is restored, and we demand undertaking of exhaustive measures not to allow in future incidents of the kind," the foreign ministry said.